Tag: Social Media for lawyers

Professional and Personal Aspects of Law Firm Social Media

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I’ve seen it far too many times: law firms are often concerned that any personal posts on their firm’s Social Media platforms may hinder their credibility as a professional legal practitioner.  That simply isn’t the case. In fact, if every post is of a professional nature, it may deter the average Facebook user from interacting with your content. You need a good balance of the two.

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If you keep your Social Media presence strictly business, you run the risk of scaring away followers – or at the very least losing their attention. We agree with Ken Hardison, Founder and President of the Personal Injury Lawyers Marketing and Management Association (PILMMA), who says that no more than 15 percent of your social content should be self-promotional. “People love to buy, but they don’t love to be sold to,” Hardison says.

More personal posts – such as employee birthdays and anniversaries, new hires, local news, a thoughtful quote, or even pictures that don’t directly relate to law – will show Social Media users a more approachable side of your firm. However, if you never post anything related to your law firm and practice areas, your Social Media platforms wouldn’t be much of a marketing effort.

So, what’s the perfect recipe for Social Media success?

The best way to promote your website, content and firm on Social Media is through your blog. Blogs often provide shareable information or news and thus lend themselves to Social Media sharing. Blogs bridge the gap between useful, shareable information and promoting your law firm. Combine a healthy flow of blog posts with a balanced blend of non-promotional posts and you just may see more users clicking your links and interacting with your Social Media posts.

Why Are Non-Business Posts Beneficial?

Posts that do not directly relate to law and your practice still serve a purpose. They’re not getting people onto your site. They’re not directly getting you cases. However, they are getting attention in the form of Likes, Shares, +1s and retweets – and therefore giving your brand attention. People are getting to know your firm through the content you share, some of which is business-oriented, some of which is more relatable to the average Facebook, Twitter or Google+ user. The goal should be to appear knowledgeable, professional and approachable. This blend of posts does just that.

Both types of posts serve a purpose. Professional posts receive a few likes and drive traffic to the firm’s website, while more personal posts spread the brand to far more Social Media users, increasing brand recognition and page visibility.

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Twitter Best Practices Guide for Attorneys

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With more than 200 million active users, Twitter is a major social media network attorneys should not ignore. Twitter can be a highly useful marketing tool for attorneys to promote their blogs and other thought leadership content.

Here is a best practices guide for attorneys using Twitter:

Tweet 4x/day or less

Use fewer than 100 characters per Tweet

Add links to Tweets to get higher Retweet rates – Tweets containing links get 86% higher Retweet rates

Make sure the links are clickable by including a space before the URL

Tweet on the weekends – engagement rates are 17% higher then

Engage with followers during “busy hours” of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Include hashtags in your Tweets, but no more than 2 per Tweet – Tweets with hashtags get twice the engagement

Add links to images to increase engagement – Tweets with image links enjoy twice the engagement rate than those without.

Use the word “Retweet” as a call-to-action to prompt your followers to share – Tweets that ask followers to Retweet receive 12x higher Retweet rates

Since Twitter is essentially a micro-blogging site, the same rules apply: create unique, original content that adds value, and your audience will respond.

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Best Practices in Business to Business (B2B) Content Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Content provider ContentCrossroads.com recently developed an infographic about best practices for B2B marketers, including the most popular, most profitable and easiest content to develop for B2B marketers looking to gain the attention of prospects:

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Using Google Alerts to Get Topical News Quickly and Improve Your Content

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Time is of the essence when taking someone from prospect to client.

Obtaining quick notice about local accidents and injuries and/or defective products can provide a competitive advantage.

When an accident has just occurred and a victim is deciding whether or not to hire an attorney, you want to be easy to find. If you are aware of accidents or defective products and pharmaceuticals early, you may have the opportunity to get the inside track on a case.

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Posting alerts and information on your website, blog and Social Media may help your firm be more easily found and give you increased opportunities to get cases.

One tool to identify possible newsworthy topics to post on your site and Social Media platforms is Google Alerts. Every time something new is indexed by Google on your chosen topic, you will receive an e-mail. You can also set Google Alerts to email you a daily or weekly digest that includes either only the best topical matches or everything associated with your selected topic.

There are multiple ways to utilize Google Alerts. You can sign up for your target city/town names, state, etc. for local news. For practice area-targeted news, you can sign up to be alerted for variations of car accidents (and injuries), truck accidents (and injuries, major highways, etc.), train accidents (as well as major train names), hospitals (and hospital injuries, negligence) and drug or product names you wish to target, for example. There are endless possibilities; your usage will depend on what works best for your law firm and schedule. You can even sign up for Alerts on competitors’ names to follow what they are doing. You should set Alerts for your firm and attorneys. Doing this will help you manage your firm’s reputation by alerting you to good and bad news and give you time to respond appropriately.

To develop a list for your Google Alerts entries, ask your attorneys (or have a trusted attorney decide) which topics and locations each person will follow for news or blog information, then sign up for Google Alerts on those topics at http://www.google.com/alerts. When you spread keywords among different people, the time investment is less significant, especially if you schedule a fifteen-minute block each day to read through your alerts.

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Social Signals Rank Highest for Best Google Search Results

A new study from Searchmetrics shows that of 44 ranking factors, social signals account for 7 of the top 8 most highly associated with Google search results,  The chart below shows the ranking importance for the top 22:
google search ranking factors in the US

The top findings from the Searchmetrics Ranking Factors-Rank Correlation Study show the following SEO trends for 2013:

  • Keyword domains and keyword links are not nearly as relevant as in the past
  • Social signals directly correlate with better rankings
  • Good content continues to be key
  • The number of backlinks continues to be of high importance
  • On-page technology (URL length, keywords in page titles, page descriptions, H1 and H2 tags, etc.) is still an important basic

This latest study makes it clear that you can no longer ignore social media if you are interested in showing up in Google search results.

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Law Firm Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Five Common Mistakes to Avoid

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Long gone are the days when you could rely only on meta descriptions, title tags, and directory links to boost your firm’s website rankings in search engines. Thanks (or no thanks) to sites using destructive black-hat techniques, Google is on a mission to penalize those who try to win using spammy shortcuts, and reward sites that provide a great user experience.

Below is a list of 5 common mistakes in SEO that can be easily avoided:

Duplicate Content, Consultwebs1. Content that is engaging.

Search engines are designed to deliver the highest quality results to the user; therefore, your content should provide the answer to the visitor’s search query as well as a great user experience. If a user comes to your website and is not impressed with the content, they will quickly leave. When this happens, it indicates to search engines that your site is not offering supportive and relevant content based on that particular search query. You do not want this! You want users to visit your site and be engaged. Remember: write for your readers, not search engines.

2. Duplicate content

Duplicate content, in simple terms, is content that appears on more than one Web page. This is akin to a constantly skipping CD. In short, it’s annoying.

Google can easily determine when content is duplicated. One of the relatively new Google features is Google Authorship

To ensure they are offering users high value content, search engines take pages out of the rankings that are a duplication of other, higher authority pages. Also, duplicate content can lead to Google not trusting the overall quality of the site and penalizing its rankings.

Search engines want to provide users with a varied amount of results, not 20 pages with the same content. To ensure this, search engines omit pages that are a duplication of other, higher authority pages. Omitted pages don’t rank.

Additionally, if Google finds your duplicate content to be spammy, deceptive or an attempt to manipulate your rankings, Google may penalize your site by dropping its rankings.

3. Not using correct keywords

If a user cannot find your website, then what good is it?

If a website’s content is written about the term “vehicle wrecks,” but the majority of users are searching for “car accidents,” the website will miss out on a lot of potential business. It’s crucial to use the correct keyword targets to drive optimal traffic to your website.Target the right words by looking for terms most commonly used in searches. Our SEO specialists use a variety of tools, including Google’s keyword tool,to determine the words and phrases that have the highest search volume for your area of law. However, targeting only the most popular keywords may not improve your rankings. The higher the search volume for a keyword, the more websites you will compete with for rankings, so it’s vital to find a happy medium between the two. Don’t forget, however, that long tail searches (lesser used phrases words and phrases) obtain more relevant traffic than the highest volume words and phrases.

4. Over-optimization

Yes, there is such a thing as over-optimization!

Tactics such as excessive interlinking,keyword stuffed content and tags, and duplicate content within the same site are common over-optimization practices that can hurt your rankings.

Typically, anything over 3% keyword density is too much for a page. Links should only be placed on a page if they are relevant to the content posted on that same page. Remember the saying “too much of a good thing is bad?” Well, that pertains to SEO as well.

5. Assuming that SEO strategies are static. SEO is constantly changing!

There is no such thing as updating a site and never having to do so again. Google constantly changes its algorithm (examples: panda, penguin, so a website has to be reviewed occasionally. What works today may not work tomorrow; it’s important to stay up-to-date on SEO practices used on your site.

Also, by having a blog on your site and adding new posts regularly, you are providing fresh, new content. Google loves fresh content.

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Growing Client Accounts With Tablet Apps (TBC)

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“We Need An App!” This has been a consistent cry from partners in law firms around the world over the past few years. Unfortunately those who were tasked with this jumped a little too quickly without understanding their audience and the purpose of an app. In most cases, apps were built that essentially reflected content that could be found on the corporate website and were launched in haste – without being updated regularly or adding any value. These apps were not ‘sticky’ and gave the target audience little reason to return. The results of these experiments were costly apps that failed to truly connect with the targeted audience. As business development tools these were a fail, but at least these initiatives were a start in exploring how firms can adopt mobile as tool and channel. But how can law firms harness the power of the tablet?

The growth in tablet technology for the enterprise is truly explosive. Research by digital ad agency Vertic, predicts enterprise tablet adoption will grow by almost 50% per year and by 2015 mobile app development projects will outnumber native PC projects by a ratio of 4-to-1! These are facts that can’t be ignored by professional services firms and mobile is now well and truly on the agenda. However, most firms’ initial mobile strategies have been focused on client adoption, when the focus should be business adoption. Your most captive and receptive audience is your own workforce, let’s equip them with mobile tools that empower them to engage effectively with clients and generate new revenue opportunities.

Law firms produce substantial amounts of marketing and business development collateral but much of it is inaccessible, out of date or not in easily consumed formats. Tablet technology is rapidly changing how proprietary marketing and business development content is shared and leveraged to internal and external audiences.

Forward thinking firms have recognized this and are placing mobile high on the agenda and revising their strategies, or formulating one if they haven’t before. One part of the puzzle is the device strategy – how to secure, deploy and manage smartphones and tablets (both personal and firm-owned devices). The other piece is the application strategy – deciding on the enterprise apps that are most relevant for achieving the firm’s objectives and what mobile platforms these need to cater for (iOS, Blackberry, Android etc.). IT teams will push for firms to adopt enterprise apps that mobilize internal processes and improving efficiencies. However, there should be a higher priority whilst the competitive window is open, which is using enterprise tablet apps as tools for growing client accounts and acquiring new clients. We are calling this ‘business development enablement’.

In the age of the internet, most firm-wide marketing collateral is stored as electronic files in difficult to access and immobilized intranets or file storage systems. These are hardly encouraging for an attorney who is trying to prepare and rally their team for a big business development meeting with a key client. If they are out of the office it is even more difficult to access and share the right information. Many still use their own personal decks or carry with them the printed materials that the firm has produced –  which is often out of date the day. Even though many partners prefer print, they are high cost and low usage, or ‘low viewage’ to be more accurate. Your target audiences are now much more likely to consume content on a mobile device than print. Your firm’s business development and marketing content – brochures, case studies, client briefings, press releases and deal memorandums– must be mobilized. Fee earners need to be able to access collateral quickly and easily on the devices where they are both consuming and sharing marketing content.

So why should your firm deploy an enterprise tablet apps for marketing and business development enablement?

Fee earners can access knowledge outside their area of expertise

Most fee earners are experts in a particular area of the law and may not be able to confidently convey the firm’s experience or track record in other areas, where potential opportunities may arise within an existing client. A tablet app empowers a fee earner to quickly access relevant collateral with a couple of swipes, so opportunities are captured at the time they arise.

Have everyone singing from the same hymn sheet

Using a centrally managed and distributed app ensures the whole client facing organization is using consistent and up-to-date collateral that has been made available by marketing, business development and knowledge teams.

A Branded Experience

Your firm-branded app will produce a positive and focused brand experience for both user and client. An app is a concentrated place with no distractions and also brings stagnant collateral to life by giving it an extra dimension that cannot be achieved using printed or static web pages.

Access marketing or business development collateral, anywhere, any time

An enterprise app for business development can store and present any digital asset that the firm has produced. Documents, presentations, video and audio can all be consumed, shared and even presented over a coffee or on a screen, in a client-facing meeting. A tablet enterprise app with a well design user experiences also requires little or no training for fee earners and business development teams, meaning user adoption is rapid.

Collaboration around clients, matters and opportunities

Apps can be rolled out to multiple devices across the firm, allowing fee earners and business development teams to all share and collaborate around client meetings and opportunities.

Gain a competitive advantage through innovation

Impression is everything. Using the latest mobile technology and software can enhance the face-to-face engagement with a client or prospect and subsequently improves the perception of, not just the individual expert, but the firm itself. Even though a firm’s reputation may rely on history, using a tablet and enterprise app to market, demonstrates that a firm is progressive, innovative and employing technology to deliver results.

Are you behind or ahead?

There is a vast contrast between where law firm are with their mobile strategy. One major  AMLAW 100 firm purchased iPads for its entire 1,000 strong workforce back in 2011. This was bold move back then but this was real foresight, as the firm now understands the usage of these devices for the enterprise, and not to just be more efficient, but to consume and share information and knowledge both internally and externally. For those of you who are reading this and are a little concerned that your firm is behind in its pursuit of mobile, consider this – I met with a senior marketing executive of a Global AMLaw20 firm in the latter half of 2012. When I asked if they were considering their mobile strategy, I was told in no uncertain terms “that we are at least three years away from looking into mobile”.

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Twitter: Little Statements with Big Consequences for Companies

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Twitter is under attack. In recent months, accounts belonging to media giants CBS, BBC, and NPR have all been temporarily taken over by hackers. The Associated Press is the most recent victim. On April 23, 2013, a false statement about explosions at the White House and the President being injured sent shock waves through the Twitter-sphere. The real surprise is the effect the single tweet had in the real world: the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped so sharply moments after the frightening tweet that $136 billion in market value was wiped out. While the hacking of these massive media outlets make headlines, everyday businesses are not safe from the threat, either. In February of this year, a hacker changed the @BurgerKing feed to resemble that of McDonald’s, putting the McDonald’s logo in place of Burger King’s. The hackers posted offensive claims about company employees and practices. If accounts belonging to well-established companies like these are vulnerable, so is yours. If a tweet can have a profound impact on the nation’s stock market, imagine what an ill-contrived tweet could do to your business.

Business owners may have the knee-jerk reaction to delete their Twitter account, but despite the recent blemishes to its security, Twitter remains one of the most important social media sites out there. Just recently, the Securities Exchange Commission made clear that companies could use social media like Twitter when announcing key information in compliance with Regulation Fair Disclosure. Twitter is not just a marketing or PR tool—Twitter is business. And you should never turn your back on existing business. So instead of hanging up your hashtags, consider some steps that can make your Twitter account safer.

Limit Access

Not every employee should have access to the company’s Twitter account. In fact, hardly anyone should, except a few designated employees like the marketing director or business owner. While those with access may never do anything harmful to the account, the more people who have the log-in information, the more likely it is to fall into the wrong hands.

Create a strong password

I know, you already have too many passwords to remember. But a creative password is your best defense against someone seeking to break into your account. Employers should, at minimum, have unique passwords for their most commonly used media sites; please do not use the same word for your Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter account. Once a hacker figures it out, they have control of your entire social media presence.

When creating a password, avoid using anything that would be too common. “Password,” “1234,” or the business’s name should never be the only thing standing between you and a hacker. The longer the password, the better. Use a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.

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Rainmaker Retreat: Law Firm Marketing Boot Camp

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming Law Firm Marketing Boot Camp:

rainmaker Feb 2013

WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND?

Have you ever gone to a seminar that left you feeling motivated, but you walked out with little more than a good feeling? Or taken a workshop that was great on style, but short on substance?

Ever been to an event that was nothing more than a “pitch fest” that left a bad taste in your mouth? We know exactly how you feel. We have all been to those kinds of events and we hate all those things too. Let me tell you right up front this is not a “pitch fest” where speaker after speaker gets up only trying to sell you something.

We have designed this 2 day intensive workshop to be content rich, loaded with practical content.

We are so confident you will love the Rainmaker Retreat that we offer a 100% unconditional money-back guarantee! At the end of the first day of the Rainmaker Retreat if you don’t believe you have already received your money’s worth, simply tell one of the staff, return your 70-page workbook and the CD set you received and we will issue you a 100% refund.

We understand making the decision to attend an intensive 2-day workshop is a tough decision. Not only do you have to take a day off work (all Rainmaker Retreats are offered only on a Friday-Saturday), but in many cases you have to travel to the event. As a business owner you want to be sure this is a worthwhile investment of your time and money.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Partners at Small Law Firms (less than 25 attorneys) Solo Practitioners and Of Counsel attorneys who are committed to growing their firm. Benefits you will receive:

Solo practitioners who need to find more clients fast on a shoe-string budget. In addition to all the above benefits, solo attorneys will receive these massive benefits:

Law Firm Business Managers and Internal Legal Marketing Staff who are either responsible for marketing the law firm or manage the team who handles the law firm’s marketing. In addition to all the above benefits, Law Firm Business Managers and Internal Legal Marketing Staff will also receive these benefits:

Of Counsel Attorneys who are paid on an “eat what you kill” basis. In addition to all the above benefits, Of Counsel attorneys will also receive these benefits:

Associates who are either looking to grow their book of new clients in the next 6-12 months or want to launch their own private practice. In addition to all the above benefits, Associates will also receive these benefits:

Rainmaker Retreat: Law Firm Marketing Boot Camp

The National Law Review is pleased to bring you information about the upcoming Law Firm Marketing Boot Camp:

rainmaker Feb 2013

WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND?

Have you ever gone to a seminar that left you feeling motivated, but you walked out with little more than a good feeling? Or taken a workshop that was great on style, but short on substance?

Ever been to an event that was nothing more than a “pitch fest” that left a bad taste in your mouth? We know exactly how you feel. We have all been to those kinds of events and we hate all those things too. Let me tell you right up front this is not a “pitch fest” where speaker after speaker gets up only trying to sell you something.

We have designed this 2 day intensive workshop to be content rich, loaded with practical content.

We are so confident you will love the Rainmaker Retreat that we offer a 100% unconditional money-back guarantee! At the end of the first day of the Rainmaker Retreat if you don’t believe you have already received your money’s worth, simply tell one of the staff, return your 70-page workbook and the CD set you received and we will issue you a 100% refund.

We understand making the decision to attend an intensive 2-day workshop is a tough decision. Not only do you have to take a day off work (all Rainmaker Retreats are offered only on a Friday-Saturday), but in many cases you have to travel to the event. As a business owner you want to be sure this is a worthwhile investment of your time and money.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Partners at Small Law Firms (less than 25 attorneys) Solo Practitioners and Of Counsel attorneys who are committed to growing their firm. Benefits you will receive:

Solo practitioners who need to find more clients fast on a shoe-string budget. In addition to all the above benefits, solo attorneys will receive these massive benefits:

Law Firm Business Managers and Internal Legal Marketing Staff who are either responsible for marketing the law firm or manage the team who handles the law firm’s marketing. In addition to all the above benefits, Law Firm Business Managers and Internal Legal Marketing Staff will also receive these benefits:

Of Counsel Attorneys who are paid on an “eat what you kill” basis. In addition to all the above benefits, Of Counsel attorneys will also receive these benefits:

Associates who are either looking to grow their book of new clients in the next 6-12 months or want to launch their own private practice. In addition to all the above benefits, Associates will also receive these benefits: